South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday blamed authorities' failure to follow disaster response rules as the death toll from days of torrential rain grew to 39, including a dozen people found dead in a submerged underpass.
The rains have pummelled the country's central and southern regions since Thursday as the rainy season that started in late June reaches its peak. The interior ministry has also reported nine people missing and 34 injured across the nation
Twelve deaths, including three bodies retrieved overnight, occurred in a tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where 16 vehicles, including a bus, were swamped by a flash flood on Saturday after a river levee collapsed. Nine others were hurt.
The incident fuelled questions over South Korea's efforts to prevent and respond to flood damage. Some drivers who use the road regularly blamed the government for failing to ban access to the underpass even though floods were widely forecast.
Floods have claimed dozens of lives during recent rainy seasons as weather patterns have become more extreme.
The government last year vowed to take steps to better cope with climate change-induced disasters after the heaviest downpours in 115 years pounded Seoul, including the glitzy district of Gangnam, leaving at least 14 dead and flooding subways, roads and homes.
Yoon, just back from an overseas trip, on Monday convened an intra-agency meeting on disaster response and said the situation was made worse because of poor management of vulnerable areas.
"We've repeatedly emphasised access control over dangerous areas and preemptive evacuation since last year, but if basic principles of disaster response are not kept on the spot, it is difficult to ensure public safety," Yoon told the meeting.
He called for authorities to make the utmost effort to rescue victims and vowed support for recovery work and affected families, including designating flood-hit areas as special disaster zones.
Rescuers retrieve eight bodies from flooded South Korea underpass
The bodies of eight people trapped in a tunnel flooded by heavy rain in central South Korea were retrieved on Sunday, authorities said, with the death toll from days of torrential downpours that have pounded the country rising to 37.
Seo Jeong-il, head of the west Cheongju fire station, said an estimated 15 vehicles, including a bus, were submerged in the underpass in the city shortly after a levee of a nearby river was destroyed by the downpours on Saturday.
A dashcam video showed muddy water rushing into the tunnel as a driver manages to exit the underpass, while other CCTV footage aired on local broadcaster MBC showed vehicles driving past the tunnel with their wheels submerged.
"Our goal is to complete the drainage and search operations (today)," Seo told reporters.
The death toll in the tunnel stands at nine, including one body retrieved on Saturday, he said.
Kong Seong-pyo, a 60-year-old Cheongju resident who frequently uses the underpass, said the government should have restricted access to the tunnel when flooding was expected.
"I would have also died if I were submerged. I have no words to express this frustrating feeling," Kong told Reuters.
The Ministry of Interior and Safety said nine people were missing across the country as of 6 p.m. (0900 GMT) as heavy downpours caused landslides and floods, with evacuation orders covering 8,852 people.
The ministry data does not include those in the flooded tunnel because it was not immediately clear how many people were trapped underwater.
The latest disaster took place despite South Korea's vow to step up preparedness against torrential rains after Seoul was hit last year with floods caused by the heaviest downpours in 115 years, inundating basement flats in low-lying neighbourhoods, including in the largely affluent Gangnam district.
A North Chungcheong province official said the levee unexpectedly collapsed before the precipitation reached the level required for restricting access to the tunnel.
President Yoon Suk Yeol, now on an overseas trip, convened a video-linked response meeting and said some regions had failed to take preemptive measures against the extreme weather.
Yoon ordered Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to mobilise all available resources to minimise casualties and urged the weather agency to quickly release forecasts because more heavy rain was expected in the coming days, his office said.
The Korea Meteorological Administration said the central and southern parts of the country could receive as much as 300 millimetres (12 inches) of additional rain by Tuesday.
While South Korea often experiences heavy rains in summer, it has witnessed a sharp increase in torrential rains in recent years.
Korea Railroad Corp has halted all slow trains and some bullet trains since Saturday due to safety concerns over landslides, track flooding and falling rocks
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